"I am never coming back here. They better not expect a tip." I say, groaning as I stand up off the cramped bed. My other Pokemon nod in agreement. I head outside and release Toxis and Dill, who are slightly disheveled from their night in the Pokeball but are unfazed.
I head to the gym, hoping to get it over with so I can appease Lilly with some sightseeing, but of course, it's closed. "Crap. What do we have to do now?" I ask, frustrated, slamming my fist into the door.
"It's the end of the world, man!" says some dude passing by. "There's a huuuge Gyarados in the Lake of Rage! And it's RED!"
"Gyarados are supposed to be blue. I've seen some." Lilly explains.
"Should we go up there?"
Lilly nods, grinning. "Let's heal up and go!" We do, but first, I stop at the hotel, which sells Potions. The odd noise from before is now unbearably strong. I grit my teeth, the screeching tearing at my soul. I take the Potions and get out, slamming the door to wake myself up. My Pokemon are sitting at the entrance, hazy eyed. They only seem to wake up from their trance when I close the door.
"This whole town gives me the creeps." Dill mutters.
"Ah, screw that. Let's go!" Lilly says, swinging Bronze around like a ragdoll.
Lilly springs through the next route. The sky's bright, the Pokemon are really nice here, and everything is so beautiful.
Lilly runs up to a Ampharos and throws her arms around her. "Sis!"
"Oh, you finally made it home." She pats her back.
"And I'm taking on the League."
Lilly's sister says nothing, her eyes clouding for a second. "You be careful. My trainer..."
"Did you get hurt?" Lilly asks.
"She released me. I don't know why. Later I found out her whole team had wiped to Claire. All my friends... dead."
The Ampharos craned her neck to look at me. "She looked almost exactly like you." She mutters. "Never mind. Lilly, promise you'll take care of yourself." Suddenly, she falls over, writhing in pain.
"Sis!"
"There's some signal... it's coming from the lake..."
Lilly nods. "It's okay."
Bronze looks at her, and then looks up at the sky. "Oh my Arceus." A swirling mass of storm and darkness twists and turns around the lake.
My whole team is terrified, I can feel their fear as if it was my own, rising off from them like smoke. We walk forwards in silence, the whistling sound threatening to tear us apart even more than the storm. It's the sound of pure, guttural wilderness.
Individually, none of us are strong enough to resist it. We are a team now. We are invincible.
It's raining hard when we reach the Lake of Rage. In the middle of the lake is a giant water snake, Gyarados. It's eyes are as red as it's scales, and the whole lake shakes as it thrashes and roars. Thunder illuminates it's giant body.
"Help us..." whispers a man.
"Who's going to fight it?" I ask, but we all turn to Lilly, who steps forward.
"I will. Thunder will kill it. Trust me." She's right, a 4x weakness to Electric types is the chink in the titan's armor.
"We need a day to prepare." I say, and look for somewhere to shelter. A tiny log cabin provides the perfect shelter.
The people inside welcome us when we reveal that we are going to kill it. "Just stay here for the night. No point going out there in a storm like this."
I settle in, helping everyone dry off by the fire, and give the people there a generous amount of money, almost my entire earnings from the Steel gym.
Bronze stays in a corner with Khrys. I can hear them whisper-
"I'm going to ask her to marry me. After the fight."
"You sure you're ready."
"Do you think so?"
"Absolutely. She loves you."
"She does? His eyes are wide, and his face is as red as his fire.
"Yes."
Lilly is watching them out of the corner of her eye, struggling to suppress her joy. She hugs Sky, the two of them laughing and crying with joy. "I'm ready." she says.
Lilly, my valiant warrior, is ready for her fight. For now, though, we're just refugees in a bad storm. I sleep on the floor on a blanket, along with the rest of my team, by Bronze's gentle light. Toxis is in the Pokeball again, but he's still with us. Dill is sleeping away from Lilly and Bronze, his tail curled around the Pokeball protectively.
Tomorrow is the day. I'm scared, but strong.
The noise rings through my dreams, calling me away from them and into feral hell.
